


Family Time

by Cheshire_Hearts



Series: Ratchet Week 2020 [3]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Family Dynamics, Family Fluff, Fluff, Ratchet Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24399529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheshire_Hearts/pseuds/Cheshire_Hearts
Summary: Ratchet has a lot of regrets in his life, but he doesn’t regret allowing the twins access to his habsuite as a safe haven for them after hard missions and battles.
Series: Ratchet Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759033
Comments: 7
Kudos: 76





	Family Time

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt for day 3 of Ratchet Week is Confidence/Regret and this is what I came up with.

It started with small things laying around in his habsuite; things Ratchet usually missed at first glance or for a couple of days. A couple extra polishing cloths, a tin of high-quality polish, brushes, extra empty cubes, some wires twisted into odd shapes, new datapads, and other odd objects. He didn’t think much about them, just moved them all to a corner and put them out of his mind. After all, the twins always left before Ratchet ever got back from the medbay.

Sometimes, a few of the items would vanish from their designated shelf and new ones would appear or Ratchet would find them somewhere else in his habsuite. It didn’t bother him, after all, he rarely used his hab unless he got kicked out of the medbay by someone and told to sleep on an actual berth and not at his desk. 

Ratchet couldn’t even pinpoint when he’d started letting the twins stay in his hab after they returned from rough missions and battles. It was probably after the first few battles on Earth though, when Sideswipe wouldn’t leave Sunstreaker after a mission went wrong. They’d both been keyed up and Ratchet didn’t trust them to go to their own hab to sleep and recover, he also didn’t want them taking up space and being pests in the medbay for however long recovery took them. So, he’d given them the code to his habsuite without much thought and told them to stay there. He’d been shocked when they actually listened.

It almost felt like when Ratchet had first taken them in at the start of the war. When they were afraid he’d kick them out and they weren’t comfortable leaving anything lying around for vorns. It was nice, having his mechlings living in his space again; even if he wasn’t in there with them.

The old, battered datapad stuffed under his pillow struck him as strange, though. It wasn’t his, and the twins usually didn’t carry anything like it for the most part. Still, he couldn’t think of why it was there or how it had gotten there in the first place. Exhaustion coursed through his frame, and he didn’t have the energy to deal with finding out who it belonged to and how it had gotten there. He simply put it on his nightstand and forgot about it. 

The next battle hit them all hard and Ratchet saw the twins long enough to tell Sunstreaker he needed to stay in the medbay for at least two hours without moving. All the wields needed to set before he and Sideswipe inevitably left to go sleep it off in Ratchet’s habsuite. There was grumbling and complaining, but after receiving a look, Sunstreaker had settled back on the med slab, and Sideswipe had tucked himself against it next to his twin’s shoulder to stay out of the way for the next two hours.

Ratchet hadn’t seen them leave. In fact, no one had seen when the twins had slipped out. The only indication they’d left was the now open med slab, which had also been wiped down to Ratchet’s exacting standards. Ratchet hoped they’d stayed the full two hours like he’d told them to. Normally they listened to him, but he also knew something had happened out on the field that had riled them up enough that being even five feet apart had set them both off.

“You need to leave,” First Aid snapped. His arms crossed over his chest and visor glinting in a way Ratchet knew meant he was glaring beneath it.

“Fine, fine. Let me finish a few more things and I’ll-”

“No, absolutely not. You look like you’re about to fall out of your seat. You need to recharge, Ratchet, and you needed to do it three hours ago. Paperwork can wait and Hoist and I can check on everyone in the meantime. Everyone is stable. Go recharge. Now”

Ratchet huffed, but listened to his apprentice. First Aid was right, and he knew he’d be useless right now if anyone actually needed him. 

The walk from the medbay to his habsuite was thankfully a short one. He’d worked through the night and most of the morning and keeping his optics online and focused kept getting more difficult. Wheeljack had checked in on him and brought him a cube of Energon earlier when he dropped off some fabricated parts. Still, his fuel levels slipped lower and he was thankful for the stash of Energon he kept in his hab. It meant he wouldn’t need to walk to the other side of the Ark to get another cube.

He entered in his code at his door and stepped in as soon as the door slid open. He shut it just as quickly and made his way through his darkened hab. There were two frontliner shaped lumps on his berth, the covers kicked off on the ground and both their faces shoved into his pillow. He walked quietly over to them, bending down and retrieving the discarded blanket. Ratchet threw it over both their frames and smiled down at them as they recharged. Their vents were even and neither one twitched when Ratchet moved away.

Ratchet took a quick shower and then prepared three cubes of Energon. He downed his and went to leave the other two on the berthside table. A faint blue glow caught his attention and he looked up to find Sideswipe staring tiredly at him. Ratchet placed the cubes down and moved to readjust the blanket around their shoulders.

“Go back to sleep, Sides.”

“Are you gonna stay?” Sideswipe’s voice was hoarse.

“I don’t have a couch in here, but I can go stay in ‘Hide or Jack’s hab. You two can stay here as long as you need to.” Ratchet whispered.

Sideswipe’s optics flashed and his servo shot out to grab Ratchet’s wrist weakly. “Don’t go. Please stay with us.”

Ratchet reset his optics a few times and looked down at Sideswipe. Sunstreaker shifted and looked up at Ratchet with dull optics. “We want our creator to stay with us.” He whispered so quietly Ratchet almost didn’t hear him.

With a quiet, exhausted sigh, Ratchet pulled back the blanket and climbed into his berth. His twins shifted around so he ended up in the middle and then cuddled up against him. He smiled at both of them before settling back. Something hard was tucked under his pillow. He fished around and then pulled out the old datapad he’d found a few months back. He stared at it for a bit.

“Did you look at it?” Sunstreaker asked quietly.

“No, I found it one day and was too tired, so I set it down somewhere. I guess I forgot about it.”

Sunstreaker reached out and powered it on. Ratchet’s optics caught on the long silver gash marring Sunstreaker’s normally pristine golden plating. He let his optics drift back to the glowing screen and felt his vents catch. They were sketches. So, so many sketches. Ratchet flipped through them all. Most were of the other Autobots around the Ark, mainly featuring Sideswipe, but there were also a lot of Ratchet himself.

“I know it’s really old, and there are better ways for me to draw, but you gave this ‘pad to me when you first took us in. Plus it’s small enough I can work on something even when the rest of me is aching and hurt.”

Sideswipe snuggled closer, somehow, and Ratchet wrapped an arm around him. He turned the datapad off and gently placed it down on the berthside table. He wrapped his other arm around Sunstreaker now that it was free and squeezed them to his sides, being careful not to squeeze Sunny too hard.

“I’m so proud of you both. I’m so proud of you both. I know you’ll survive this and afterwards, you’ll both do great things.”

They snuggled into his sides, quickly slipping back into recharge. Ratchet let out a happy sigh through his vents. It was good to have his mechlings back with him again. There was a lot in his life that he regretted, but giving the twins access to his habsuite wasn’t one of them.


End file.
